Paul Kirk may take Ted Kennedy's seat

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Paul Kirk, a former adviser to Ted Kennedy, may fill the Senate seat temporarily.
AP Photo

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and White House senior adviser David Axelrod, among other top Democrats in Washington, have been leaning on legislators in Massachusetts to change the state’s succession law. And Patrick has said that President Barack Obama also spoke with him about the Senate vacancy at Kennedy’s funeral.

The bill that would allow the governor to temporarily fill the seat has had something of a rough ride through the Democratic-controlled Legislature, with Republicans using parliamentary delaying tactics to stall it.

It passed the state House of Representatives Friday, 95-58, after hours of fierce debate, and won approval in the state Senate on Tuesday by a narrower margin, 24 to 16. Eleven Democrats joined five Republicans there to oppose it.

Some Democratic legislators appeared worried that their support for the change could be seen by their constituents as hypocritical since many of the same lawmakers who voted to grant the governor the authority to make an interim pick this year stripped then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, of that power in 2004.

At the time, Democrats worried that Romney would appoint a fellow Republican to serve in the Senate, should Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, win the White House.

The new legislation does not bar the interim Senate appointee from running in the Jan. 19 special election to permanently fill the seat -- a restriction that the governor acknowledged would likely have been unconstitutional. Instead, to remove any taint of an unfair political advantage, Patrick has said he would elicit a personal promise from his appointee not to run.

Kirk has never held public office. But in addition to his ties to the Kennedy library, he also serves as co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates and on the boards of directors of three corporations, including the Hartford Financial Services Group, one of the country’s largest insurance and investment companies.

He is affiliated with the Boston law firm, Sullivan and Worcester, and is also chairman and CEO of Kirk and Associates, a business advisory and consulting firm.

Marty Linksy, a lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a former Republican Massachusetts state legislator, described Kirk as “one of those classic behind-the-scenes guys.”

“He has no interest in being well known,” Linsky said. “But everybody knows him, and he knows everybody.”

Well, now feeling "called out" again: realized as it was happening of "lotus 1,2,3" "blossoming" of musing to distract but "keep" of Special Olympic organizing days and with friends and fellow organizers within such Kennedy family organization the with such friends working with Borg Warner replacement sensors much in auto repair business, ...

Well, of "beam me up Scotty" and "Kirk" and recent talk of "collectives" and "a new collective" as not a warning of forced assimilation so the shift to Gene Rodenberry inspiring and Star Trek, The Next Generation as produced and/or directed by Mr. Livingston, certainty of Kennedy ties with Hollywood "carrying".

But cross mused with others would be one with a Kate Janeway now more with Wellseley ties than then as for concern, professional, for next generations and of living across from another concerned with other stuff and across a Livingston St, with friends in Special Olympics purveyors of Borg Warner sensors.

The is more than one "Mad man" in this country, and more than one just Irish/American, right?

Not sure how you know that to be true, and I don't care. Republicans didn't do it, a Democrat governor did. This is absolutly disgusting. Trying to point out bad behaviour by others does not condone bad behavior for the Democrats.

Not sure how you know that to be true, and I don't care. Republicans didn't do it, a Democrat governor did. This is absolutly disgusting. Trying to point out bad behaviour by others does not condone bad behavior for the Democrats.

Some Democratic legislators appeared worried that their support for the change could be seen by their constituents as hypocritical since many of the same lawmakers who voted to grant the governor the authority to make an interim pick this year stripped then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, of that power in 2004. At the time, Democrats worried that Romney would appoint a fellow Republican to serve in the Senate, should Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, win the White House.

What you right wingnuts fail to grasp is that the Massachusetts state legislators worked within the legal system to change the state's succession law. You can whine all you want. The fact that you don't like the outcome is irrelevant. Your frustration should be with your own GOP party, which is led by ignorance, hatred and fear. You can scapegoat ACORN all you want but the truth of the matter is that you won't regain the trust of the American voters so long as you continue on the path of ignorance, hatred and fear.

I THOUGHT GOVERNOR DEVAL WAS PRESIDENTIAL MATERIAL. ONCE AGAIN I AM SHOCKED AT MY POOR INSIGHT.

These power crazy Liberals will sell their own Mothers down the river to hold on to their power. They are the most unethical, corrupt Administration and Congress this country has ever had, IMO. And Patrick is just as corrupt as any of these Chicago thugs!

I'm still not getting it. I guess I'm one of those stupid people that the Kennedy Political Machine likes to make fun of.

Why does Massacheusetts need to go into Panic Mode and appoint a Senator,,,,,right now!......OMG!......the fate of the world depends on Mass Senators!!>>>>>>.Hurry up! ????

The Kennedy Political Machine needs to create mass hysteria in order to maintain its iron fisted lock on POWER! (At least for the next 90 days).

If I were Gov Patrick, I'd just sit tight until the Kennedy Political Machine brought me a nice gift. Dont Ask for the Gift.......else he would wind up like Gov Blagojevich(stabbed in the back). Just wait.

Appointment of a Senator does NOTHING to ensure passage of anything in the next 90 days, folks. Senator Byrd is about to die and change the balance of power once again. Half of the next 90 days the Senate will be in Holiday Recess Mode anyway.

So I think we all can endure another 90 days of a Health Care System created by the 1973 Ted Kennedy HMO Act.......

That"s right you propaganda tools.......Teddy Kennedy worked hard in 1973 to create the very system he later worked so hard to destroy. Dont believe everything you hear in the movies, alright? The HMO law that you are told is so "evil' was actually sponsored and authored by none other than Teddy Kennedy.

This is hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic. The D-rats have the law changed that the governor cannot appoint a senator when there was a Republican governor and now since they have a black racist democratic governor, they change the law back. I mean, if this isn't the definition of hypcorisy. Funny thing though, the corrupt crybaby rats scream hypocrisy against others outside of their party all day long and look the other way when it involves them. Another clear example of low life democratic politics.